All In A Little Box Of Notecards
by SnowPrincessMossy
Summary: Oneshot Collection. Riza's grandfather gives her a box of notecards. Touches of Royai and other things to come.


**Hey! Snowy here, this is my first FMA fic so please bear with me. This is the first of a collection of oneshots that will be written to themes. I know, I know, there are tons of themed oneshot collections, but I tried to make mine different from other peoples. The name of the chapter is the theme. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own FullMetal Alchemist.**

**XxX**

As time grew nearer to one o'clock a group of four men dressed in identical blue uniforms tromped through the spacious hallways of the military building in Central talking and laughing and generally having a good time. As they reached their destination they took the time to peer in, as the door was left open a crack. What they saw surprised them, their black haired superior was sitting at his desk, deep in thought and writing carefully.

"Is the Colonel actually working?" Asked Fuery, a short black haired man with large glasses.

"Working when he's alone in the office? Nah, writing a love letter more like it." Replied Hughes with a smile, "Maybe he actually-"

"Twenty dollars says it's to Havoc's current girlfriend." Breda said, cutting Hughes' sentence short. He was a rotund man of mid-height with bright orange hair.

"Again!?" Havoc exclaimed, none too thrilled at the prospect of having his girlfriend taken from him again, much less by his superior.

"I'll bet it's one of Havoc's ex's." Falman stated. He was a tall older man with graying hair.

"Oh please," Hughes scoffed, "It's for the Lieutenant."

"No way! What about the fraternization law! He wouldn't!" Fuery countered.

"Right." Havoc said, rolling his eyes as sarcasm oozed from his voice.

"Have you looked at them at all, ever?" Falman agreed.

"But the-" Fuery stuttered, clinging hopefully to the idea that the colonel would never go against a law.

Hughes leaned over to Fuery and whispered, "That's why he's writing it now, when he thinks that there's nobody around."

"But by now he'll know we're supposed to be coming back." Breda reminded the group.

"Yes, and if we don't go in we'll never know." Hughes agreed.

"If we even want to know." Havoc grumbled.

"Aww, lighten up, you'll get another girlfriend." Breda reassured his friend as he led the way into the almost empty office.

"Hello Mustang!" Hughes greeted cheerfully.

"You're back already?" Questioned Colonel Mustang, quickly placing down his pen and overturning his paper so that the writing could not be seen by a passing glance.

"We've been gone for half an hour." Fuery stated.

"Yea, what have you been doing?" Breda added.

"Just working on some papers." Mustang said casually, as if he spent every lunchtime doing his paperwork.

"Actually doing paperwork?" Havoc asked, a look of mock surprise on his face.

"How I spend my time is none of your concern." Mustang stated; his eyes turning defensive as he folded the paper he had been working on neatly.

"Unless of course, your time is spent stealing Havoc's girlfriends, then he might have reason to care." Falman commented.

As the conversation was going on, the four men had started to form a line, inching closer and closer to their superior as he nonchalantly folded the paper neatly in half so that they couldn't see what was written on it.

The Colonel fingered the handle on his desk drawer, hoping that his subordinates would give up and decide to get to their own stacks of paperwork. It would be a pity to burn the note after he'd just spent the better part of half an hour thinking of the best way to put his thoughts into words that were actually legible.

Just when he thought that he would have no choice but to pull out his gloves and burn the little note the doors to the office opened again and in walked his fifth subordinate, First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye.

"Sorry I'm late sir, I-" She stopped her excuse short, seeing Hughes, Falman, Fuery and Havoc surrounding Mustang like a pack of wild dogs surrounding a carcass. All five sets of eyes turned to her as she stood just inside the door, her little black and white dog Hayate at her side.

"Catch!" Mustang called to her, thinking quickly he folded the note into a paper airplane and hurled it up into the air towards the Lieutenant.

Or that was the intended path of the paper plane's travel. The thing about paper airplanes is, they never seem to go where you throw them. Luckily for the Colonel, catch was a command that Hayate knew well. He ran forward as both Breda and Hughes lunged for the flying paper and leaped off Fuery, who had conveniently tripped over Havoc in his own grab at the paper, and caught it in his teeth. Landing as gracefully as a dog can when the ground is littered with fallen men; Hayate pranced over to his master and dropped the now soggy paper at her feet.

Hawkeye picked up the paper and tucked it into her pocket, intending on keeping it safe with her while the men calmed down a bit.

"You've had your fun, now get back to work." She commanded.

"Yes Ma'am." They saluted, picking themselves up and slinking off to their desks like scolded puppies.

The day progressed fairly uneventfully, and soon, one by one, they began to leave for the day, every one of them leaving a small stack of papers to complete in the morning. First went Hughes at four thirty with an excuse that sounded vaguely like he'd promised Elicia he'd be home. Then went Breda at five followed closely by Havoc, muttering something about how he thought he had plans. Falman left at five fifteen, and Mustang left soon after. At six the only occupants of the office were Fuery and Hawkeye.

"Go home Fuery." Hawkeye said, sighing. He was the only one who actually stayed if his paperwork wasn't done, and it never was.

"But this is due tomorrow morning." Fuery argued.

Hawkeye looked around the room surveying the amount of work the others had gotten done that day.

"So is everyone else's, you can finish it in the morning." She stated. It was getting late and she wasn't about to let him work himself too much.

Fuery sighed in defeat. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

Riza nodded, getting up as he left. As she picked up her bag she remembered the note that she'd confiscated earlier that afternoon. The colonel hadn't asked for it back but it would be wrong to take the note herself. Hawkeye pulled the note out of her pocket and looked at it. Maybe Mustang had forgotten about it as she had, it was easy enough to do. With that thought in mind she walked over to the colonel's desk and placed the note to one side of his unfinished stack of papers for him to find in the morning.

Hayate whined at her and padded around in a circle.

"Come on then, let's go home." She said, turning and leaving the office, Hayate trailing behind her. He glanced over his shoulder as he followed his master through the doors of the office, hesitant to leave the note behind, but master knew best so he padded dutifully beside her as they returned home, the note quickly slipping from their minds.

Riza arrived at her apartment door to find a box sitting on the ground with a small note attached. Picking it up she read the note.

_Riza,_

_I meant to give you this a long time ago but I've only just found it. Hope it's not too late._

_~ Grandpa_

Hawkeye looked at the note, perplexed, she didn't know what it meant, but Hayate's whine reminded her that she was standing in the hallway outside her apartment and that whatever it meant it could wait just a little longer.

Once inside her apartment Riza fed Hayate and got herself something to eat before sitting down with the box at her small table and lifted the lid. Peering into the box she saw that it was full of note cards and there was another note from her grandfather explaining that the note cards each had some piece of advice on them that her mother had collected before she had been born. Curious, Riza pulled out the first note card to come to her hand and read it.

_When you find something real, catch it and don't ever let go._

Her mind fluttered back to the note that she had left on her superior's desk a mere half hour ago. He had told her to catch it and had never asked for it back. At the time leaving it on his desk had seemed like the only option, but now after reading this note card she was second guessing that decision. Riza looked down at Hayate, who was sitting dutifully at her side. His eyes were filled with a strange look of knowing. She scoffed at him.

"It's just a note card, what does it know?"

The little black dog whined, sensing his master's turbulent thoughts. Riza stood up and sighed, noticing that it was getting late.

"If he meant for me to keep it he would have told me." She stated firmly as she headed to her bedroom, "The wording is just a coincidence. It means nothing."

She was fairly certain she had made the right decision, and that the note card was just a coincidence, but even so, doubts plagued her mind as she drifted off to sleep.

**XxX**

**Let me know what you think! This is my first fic so I'd love some constructive feedback. Also, if you want to see a theme just give me a word in your review and I'll add it to the list. Thank you so much! **


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